Rutherford College, Auckland

Rutherford College
Location
Kotuku Street,
Te Atatū Peninsula,
Auckland,
New Zealand
Coordinates36°51′05″S 174°38′47″E / 36.8513°S 174.6465°E / -36.8513; 174.6465
Information
TypeState co-ed secondary (Year 9–13)
Established5 February 1961; 65 years ago
Ministry of Education Institution no.40
PrincipalGary Moore
Enrollment1,492[1] (October 2025)
Socio-economic decile5M[2]
Websitewww.rutherford.school.nz

Rutherford College (called Rutherford High School from 1961 to 2001) is a co-educational state secondary school on the Te Atatū Peninsula, Auckland, New Zealand. It is named after New Zealand-born nuclear physicist and chemist Ernest Rutherford.

History

Rutherford High School opened in 1961, with Eric Clark as the first principal. The school rapidly developed as the farms and orchards of Te Atatū were developed into housing.[3] The school was the first in New Zealand to offer drama and dance as school subjects.[3]

Like most New Zealand secondary schools built in the 1960s, Rutherford High School was built to the Nelson two-storey standard plan. The Nelson two-storey is characterised by its two-storey H-shaped classroom blocks, with stairwells at each end of the block and a large ground floor toilet and cloak area on one side.[4] The school has two Nelson two-storey blocks: B block and C block. A third Nelson two-storey block, known as D block, was destroyed by fire on 24 January 1975, reportedly caused by a teacher preparing for the new school year leaving a science demonstration unattended. More than 40 firefighters from Henderson, Glen Eden and Auckland fought the blaze, with the cost of damage estimated at $750,000 (equivalent to $8,990,000 in 2024).[5][6]

Eric Clark was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1983 Queen's Birthday Honours,[7][8] and retired as principal the following year.[9]

Enrolment

As of October 2025, Rutherford College has a roll of 1,492 students, of which 324 (21.7%) identify as Māori.[1]

As of 2026, the school has an Equity Index of 459,[10] placing it amongst schools whose students have average socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 5 and 6 under the former socio-economic decile system).[11]

Curriculum

Rutherford College is a New Zealand Qualifications Authority accredited co-educational Year 9–13 State Secondary school. It caters for students from year 9 to year 13, as well as providing adult education, special education and night courses. It offers well-qualified, professional staff are very successful in challenging students to achieve academic success in national assessments. The school teaches core subjects such as English, Mathematics and Science, and helps senior students pass NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement). As well as core subjects, specialist subjects such as Chinese Mandarin, Japanese, Māori and German are taught as a second language, as well as aviation, environmental science and biochemistry, arts, physical education, technology, accounting and economics.[12]

Tradition

The College encourages student participation in a wide range of extracurricular activities, again challenging students to reach their full potential in all areas.

  • The school celebrates annually, Rutherford Day, to commemorate the history of the school.
  • The official school song is ‘Me Hui Hui’,[13][14] written by Pita Sharples[15]
  • Rutherford Colleges Kapa Haka group 'Te Rōpu Kapa Haka o Te Kōtuku' is also the top Mainstream group in the Auckland region.

Notable staff

Notable alumni

Sport

The arts

Public service

Notes

  1. ^ a b "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
  2. ^ Decile change 2007 to 2008 for state & state integrated schools
  3. ^ a b Devaliant, Judith (2009). "History Lessons". In Macdonald, Finlay; Kerr, Ruth (eds.). West: The History of Waitakere. Random House. p. 207. ISBN 9781869790080.
  4. ^ "Catalogue of Standard School Building Types" (PDF). Christchurch: Ministry of Education. August 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  5. ^ "Our Story". Rutherford College. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  6. ^ "$750,000 fire at school". The Press. 25 January 1975. p. 2. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  7. ^ "No. 49376". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 11 June 1983. p. 34.
  8. ^ "Varied services gain reward". The Press. 11 June 1983. p. 4. Retrieved 19 March 2025 – via PapersPast.
  9. ^ "Wealth of experience". The Press. 22 February 1986. p. 9. Retrieved 19 March 2025 – via PapersPast.
  10. ^ "New Zealand Equity Index". New Zealand Ministry of Education.
  11. ^ "School Equity Index Bands and Groups". www.educationcounts.govt.nz. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
  12. ^ Rutherford College Prospectus
  13. ^ rutherfordcollege (20 July 2007). Me Hui Hui - Rutherford Day '06. Retrieved 16 July 2024 – via YouTube.
  14. ^ rutherfordcollege (1 July 2007). Me Hui Hui - Rutherford College Jipers Choir. Retrieved 16 July 2024 – via YouTube.
  15. ^ "Ernest Rutherford - Scientist Supreme". www.rutherford.org.nz. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  16. ^ Lambert, Max (1991). Who's Who in New Zealand, 1991 (12th ed.). Auckland: Octopus. pp. 178f. ISBN 9780790001302.
  17. ^ Forbes, Stephen (5 June 2012). "Tribute to Dame's efforts with Maori". Western Leader. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  18. ^ "Ken Carrington". NZ Rugby Stats. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  19. ^ "New Zealand Herald Insights". insights.nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  20. ^ "Darren Liddel | New Zealand Olympic Team". olympic.org.nz. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  21. ^ College, Rutherford. "Our Story". Rutherford College. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  22. ^ "Netball: Only as good as your last game". NZ Herald. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  23. ^ Schmidt, Andrew. "The La De Da's – Profile". Audio Culture. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  24. ^ Manhire, Toby (18 August 2022). "Osa and the insides: Oscar Kightley on the return of Dawn Raids, 25 years on". The Spinoff. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  25. ^ Husband, Dale (31 October 2015). "Hinewehi Mohi and that anthem at Twickenham". E-Tangata. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  26. ^ Hewitson, Michelle (14 April 2018). "Simon Bridges is on a mission to get people to know (and like) him". NZ Listener. Vol. 263, no. 4062. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  27. ^ Husband, Dale (6 November 2021). "Dame Cindy Kiro: A pōhara kōtiro from the wop-wops". E-Tangata. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  28. ^ Team, Management Editorial (30 November 2008). "Top 200 : Designworks Visionary Leader Tim Shadbolt – Bold and different". Management Magazine NZ. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  29. ^ Husband, Dale (26 September 2020). "Rawiri Waititi: Unapologetically Māori". E-Tangata. Retrieved 31 July 2025.

References

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